Sacrifice
by Cocoleia
Summary: An incident which is about to change a lot strikes and Piers gets falsely accused for a murder attempt on Chris, who has recently found out how strong his feelings for Piers are. Just as he feels he's ready to tell him about it, Piers decides to do something for Chris which is setting his own life at a high risk level. P/C.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"_Danger is lying somewhere in the air, Chris. You might not know it by now, but if you're stupid enough to follow through with whatever fate has been planning for you, you are going to fall for your own trap_."

While gasping for a little bit of air to help him escape from the bad thoughts he was having, the thirty-nine year old man realized that he must have passed out during the night. By waking up, the voices talking to him in his dreams vanished, without him getting a chance to identify anything. Chris could probably have done anything not to be forced into realizing his situation, but at some point, he knew he had to open his eyes and get back to reality. He knew that this had been going on for a few days now, maybe even weeks, and he still hadn't found the source to his mind's behavior, but he also knew that this wasn't the right time to grieve. Not for a man who had a great responsibility on his shoulders- like himself, who had a mission to back up his team. He had to follow this through with for another day, before taking time off.

* * *

"So... Are we heading for anywhere special here, Captain?"

Cold gusts of wind lurked behind the corner, and as soon as they had taken one step each into darkness, it started to lay over them as a membrane.

_He must think I'm crazy, asking him if he wants to take a walk in a deserted town in the middle of the night, but he doesn't know that I actually want to show him something, if he hasn't come up with that by himself, but, uh.. I don't know if I should just yet._

"Captain? You aren't lost or something, right?" Piers studied Chris' facial expressions while he waited for a response from him, something that took several more seconds to get.

"..Uh?" No, of course not, could we rest ourselves here for a while?"

Piers nodded, doing a quick tug on his head, thinking about what would be best for the man who stood next to him. After all, he did not know what it was that broke out in a chaos inside of Chris' head every night. The only thing he actually knew for sure was that he had been there to comfort him every time it happened.

He started improvising by picking up things from his bag, before settling down to build a fire. The way his hands were working on different items to build the fire was quite fascinating, considering the cold that bit hold of him as a wild wolf.

Chris had to sit down quickly to prevent the legs from getting stuck in a particular position. He was just about to lend over a hand to help the younger man when the fire suddenly succeeded getting lit, hitting Chris' hand which he had begun bringing closer Piers' own hands. He felt a quick stab of pain as the fire touched his skin, coloring two or three fingers partly red, with the damages reaching a bit over his forearm. He was just about studying the burns that he just recently had received, when he suddenly found himself looking straight at a third hand, which was tenderly lain above his own. The younger man's skin felt forbiddingly soft against his as he began soothing him by doing slow motions over the marks.

"Haven't you learned not to play with fire yet, Captain?"

Piers sat so close to Chris that he could feel the warmth of his breath against his neck for every word he uttered. Chris hastily turned up his own head and was greeted immediately by two bright eyes that began to study his own dark blue eyes. A vision of that man, sitting this intimately near himself was something that struck him from the inside, with even more power than the fire had used against him.

"Nah, I guess I haven't. Weren't this proof enough of that?"

Chris just replied honestly to the question he had been asked. Because apparently, he hadn't learned not to play with fire, but he was referring to a whole different kind of fire than the one Piers had been alluding to.

Piers gave away a sigh of relief when he saw that Chris smiled at him, it made him know that he at least didn't blame him for what had happened. He let his caressing hand slowly wander up Chris forearm as he inspected the look upon his face to see if he would express a feeling of pain.

"I'd be glad beyond words if you could tell me more about what all of those... bad thoughts you are having at night. What are they all about? It's probably none of my business, but I just thought I'd ask you, considering I may have just a tiny right to know."

But he didn't just have a 'tiny right to know'; he had every right to, if he wanted to. Piers had been the one to be there every time it had happened, and that part had come to be more important to Chris than to figure out what the actual thoughts indicated. The only problem was that Chris didn't understand himself why he was terrorized by his mind.

"To be honest, I haven't got a clue myself what it's all about. It's just like my head speaks to me, like earlier tonight, it told me that I'm going to fall for some kind of trap. Yeah, it sounds kind of weird, but I'm just repeating what I heard."

Piers shook his head slowly before moving his hand to another place, pinching Chris jokingly in the cheek.

"Well, I think it's enough with traps for tonight, you've already got burnt by fire and everything."

Before he knew it, he grabbed hold of his soldier's wrist just the same second that he had pinched him. Piers' eyes seemed to grow bigger for a second which most likely depended on the shock that Chris' sudden reaction gave him. Their eyes were locked on each other's as Chris could feel a rising pulse with his palm, a signal that made him realize that he wasn't alone with feeling a rising heartbeat after all. Even though he knew they probably had different reasons for this to be happening.

Without any warning, the pain in Chris' hand began sneaking closer, but he fought to not being forced showing it.

"I think it's about time we take care of these wounds of yours, Captain. I believe I have some equipment in my bag, just hold on, I'll get them for you."

Piers was either a mind reader, or Chris was simply lousy at hiding pain, whatever it was, he wanted to insist, but Piers had already left his spot to go looking for everything he needed. Chris could almost swear that the bag was lying on a place much farther away now than it had done previously, but it probably didn't depend on anything else but his eyes playing a trick on him. When he, just a few seconds later, thought he saw a huge shadow reflecting in the snow, the argument got nothing but stronger.

In the next second a loud noise was heard very close to Chris, but there was not enough time for him to react to it. Before he knew it, he felt a hard object hitting his head, while his body fell down to face the snow-covered ground. And before he had a chance to understand what was going on, all things in front of him went from black to complete darkness.

/_There we go then, my first ever fanfic. This is far away from the standards of "good enough", but hey, what should I say, I am actually trying my best to improve my writing here! I am also working on more chapters of this story, and I expect chapter 2 to be done soon.  
So.. that's everything from me for this time, I guess. :)_


	2. Chapter 2

"Breathe. That's all I need you to do for me, Chris."

It was around 06.30 in the morning and the room wore a cape made of fear and mental tension. There he was; lying on the hospital gurney with his eyes closed, making him look like as if he was sleeping peacefully. Piers had become accustomed to switch his attention between Chris and the apparatus that showed the number of his heart rate. He wanted to make sure that it wasn't about to fade away. A single sign of life; it was everything Piers asked the man to give him. To a fully alive person, that would be an easy task to complete; all he had to do was to let his heart go on beating. For a man who was either dead or in a coma, on the other hand, things would have to turn out a lot differently. The BSAA had already been forced to see several deaths in the last weeks, adding Chris Redfield to that list certainly didn't sound reasonable.

"So now you want him to breathe, eh? Just what the hell did ya' do to him, Nivans?"

Piers winched when he heard the well-recognizable voice coming unexpectedly from behind. Carl's voice echoed in Piers head at the same rate as the beep from Chris' plugged respirator did. What _he_ had done? Absolutely nothing. He hadn't had a chance to react to the noise in time in order to spare Chris' life from hanging on a breakable thread. He could admit that he had screwed up, but were they actually claiming that _he_ was the one who had carried out the act himself? "W-What do you mean?"

The willingness to say that a little louder than his lungs allowed him to left him whimpering in pain, forcing him to constantly take deep breaths between the words. If there was a game of honesty going on, he would have to admit it. It didn't feel like he had much of a purpose to give himself permission to breathe anymore. But he had to tell his teammates they were wrong, and so he did by uttering those words. They'd be far away from enough, though, he got that right. There would have to be more than just words to even stand a chance making them realize anything so serious like this.

"What I mean? I mean you were the last one to see him when he was at his recovered state, therefore; you are the only one who has motives pointing against you."

The soldiers quickly formed a horizontal line with their own bodies, resting their eyes on Piers. It wasn't any usual glances; they radiated a strong anger this time. Although he wasn't facing them, he knew exactly what was going on. They tried to stab him in the back by just eyeing him, but if they wore any equipment they probably would have used them instead. It really felt that way. Piers could not really blame them for anything, though. After all, they thought they looked at a boy who had some kind of mission to hurt other human beings, including their already wounded captain.

"I.. No, it's nothing like that."

Piers buried his face in his hands as he felt everything that had to do with hope sinking to the floor.

"If it was up to us to decide, we'd want to see you get the fuck outta' here before you'd even had a chance saying the word "leave". You got that? We're far away from done yet." Carl raised a hand to point at the door, making that a gesture to tell the men they should move. "Everyone, let's get going, the rest of the team will be waiting for us at the camp any minute. But as for you, Nivans… just keep your mouth shut and stay away from all of us, we'll give you a maximum of one hour to pack up your things, and leave."

"Wha-a-! Shouldn't we wait to do this until Captain Redfield has woken up and regained his consciousness?"

The rookie; named Finn Macauley, was standing in the corner of the room while trembling to his knees by a great nervousness. He was one of those soldiers that didn't like taking the law in his own hands, and he couldn't have been more obvious about it than he already was. Especially in a moment like this. He was not the person anyone in his team would listen to, and ideally not Carl, who seemed to be one of those persons who enjoyed acting like they were the guide to everyone else.

"So you honestly think our Captain would wanna look at the man who tried taking his life away? Do you honestly think this lad's innocent?"

Finn was just about to answer him when Carl raised his other hand to give Finn a sign of that it was time for him to shut it. The look in his eyes indicated that he was deadly serious about not changing his mind. Carl gave away a last smirk before dragging along with everybody else that had recently left.

There was no way he could disprove them something. He didn't have enough evidence to do that, as a matter of fact, he didn't have any evidence at all. Chris himself was the only one who knew about Piers' innocence. If even he knew it. A strong chest pain darted throughout his whole body, forcing him to scream, nearly falling down to his knees. It hit him like a bolt of thunder to admit it, but he had got embroiled in hell; there was no doubt about it. And he would've done anything in order to be capable of bringing back life into the older man before his hour had run out. Then he would both have a chance to explain himself in front of him, and hopefully even been able to stay with him. But he didn't believe in miracles, and nothing had proved to him that those things even existed.

"I'm sorry it turned out this way, Chris, but from now on I won't be here to bother you anymore."

He let one of his shaking hands clench around Chris' hand, and even though he knew he could not get a response, it was something that increased the pain inside of his aching body.

"If there's chance you can hear me speaking to your mind right now, I just want you to know that I would never hurt you. I…"

A sentence was just about to be said when he was prevented by the tears that pushed past the eyes. It was impossible to say it, no matter how much he wanted to. If he was going to say something that bore such a large meaning, it would have to be at much better conditions.

Without a word he brought himself closer to Chris before he leaned forward to give him a kiss on the forehead. Tears kept running down his cheeks before they ended up landing on the skin of the man lying closely beneath him. They would most likely leave a few traces there, since they contained a lot of emotions.

He arose from the place he had just been sitting at for a number of hours with the knowledge that it was time to leave. Heavy steps were the ones he used when he got to the door to open it. He wanted to hesitate for a moment before taking a step outside, but realized quickly enough that there would be no use in doing that. Piers was the soldier who usually carried a whole heap of courage within himself, but this time he couldn't find a reason to keep it with him. Not with his heart recently broken.

* * *

It was a strange feeling that radiated through the body when he had let warm air collect in his lungs for the first time in many hours. To finally be in control of his own movements again made it feel as if he was recently reborn. Even though he had been disconnected with his body, it felt like his mind was trying to view flashbacks of a dream that had been visiting his mind during the blackout. His memory was trying to get him to realize what he ought to be focusing on right now, even though he understood it perfectly well without the help from his own mind. Something told him it was time to act now before it was too late, that he needed to ease his heart for the person who were the reason for him to carry a heart full of emotions that just had to be let out. And there was no doubt about who that someone was. Neither was it any doubt of that he was missing right now.

"Does anyone know where Piers is?"

Chris decided not to turn his head towards any particular person while uttering the words; he wanted everyone to have a chance answering him. All of the soldiers had gathered around him as soon as they found out that he'd finally woke up from his short-term coma. As soon as their captain's question had been set, they began to look nervously at each other. Most of them searched around the room with their glances to set their eyes on Carl. They expected him to be the person who would give an answer since he was the main reason why Piers had been forced getting out of this place. He faced Chris while the other members were inhaling pieces of air to calm down their nerves.

"He left a few hours ago, sir."

No one knew what the reaction would turn out to be like from Chris' side, but it did not seem to be something that Carl himself was troubled over. They all seemed to inspect Chris half confused facial expressions as he struggled with composing sentences in response to Carl.

"What do you mean by 'left'? Did he say when he'll be back?"

They locked eyes for a brief moment until Carl took the opportunity to answer.

"We asked him to leave, so he won't be back, sir."

Chris made an effort, trying to understand what had just been said, but the words didn't seem to have a chance getting easier with the seconds that passed him by. This was what the dream had warned him for. He acted too late, it took him too long to realize what had so long been obvious; and now he was about to get punished for it. Piers had turned his back against Chris. He had chosen to give up on him, probably without any hesitation at all, and now he didn't know whether or not he would ever be able to see his face again. It made him realize that he should have kept away from waking up for a much longer time. If it would be like this from now on, he should have avoided waking up at all. Because waking up to a reality that turned out this way were far worse than being unaware of anything at all.


	3. Chapter 3

The night began to creep into the streets of Edonia as the soldier walked through the blizzard. His hands were shaking, and his breaths hurted him like a pile made of ice. You could say he was lost, since he looked as if he didn't quite know where to go yet. But the truth is; he knew exactly how to walk those streets, he just didn't know how to walk the paths of what his mind told him. Edonia was not known to be a bed of roses to get through, he had quickly discovered, and it became nothing but more difficult as he carried a heaviness in his chest. He didn't know just where to go yet, but he would eventually find that out soon enough.

It was a very long time ago he had been alone in the same way as now; actually, he could not remember if it even had happened. But it was not the loneliness that was a problem this time, because there were far worse things to keep in mind. He had abandoned his captain; a man he looked up to so urgently, when he should need support now more than ever. Hell, he didn't even know if he only felt admiration for Chris anymore considering how he had felt in the last week, not to mention how he felt at this moment, or while telling Chris a last goodbye at the hospital; something that wasn't even heard. This was indeed something stronger than just 'looking up to someone', but he was too blinded by numbness to pinpoint exactly what it was.

The thoughts ate up his mind from inside of his head, and it had to stop now; it really did. And so he knew. He wouldn't be able to go on while thinking about this, so he shook his head, settling down in the middle of a snowy spot on the ground. He put most of his weight on his palms, which rested against the cold surface, sending chills up his arms.

"i… I can't think about 'what could have been' anymore. It's too late by now, I'm the one to blame for all this, and now I have to-"

Before he reached the last words he was interrupted by the feeling of a warm hand lying on top of his shoulder. Knowing that he was no longer alone out there caused him to fall silent. Short termed flashbacks of how it had ended up last time someone else had been near showed up behind his eyelids. It really hadn't gone well that time, and that time was the reason he even sat here in the first place. That moment was the reason why his captain had got hurt, which in order also had got himself hurt.

Fear was taking over his mind. The person who was behind him refused saying a word; the only sound the living creature did emit was its breath. Piers could not wait any longer to get to know what was going on, and why this person had come here to act this mysteriously, so he stretched his arms and attempted to get up, but was quickly stopped by the hand that had moved to his back.

"You stay right there, Mr. Nivans. We wouldn't want you to run off without me getting to introduce myself, now would we?"

_So you could speak after all. Well, at least it sounds like a human being and not like some creature, I guess just answering him won't hurt._

"How about you let go of me first then? W-wait, how the hell do you-"

_..Know my name. Do I know this guy? I can't remember ever hearing that voice. Does he know me? Apparently. Maybe I was wrong with this not getting into a mess._

The words had to continue inside of his head instead of being spoken out, since the yet unknown man silenced him with his hand. Piers was greeted by a smile and a pair of eyes looking back kindly. With a reasonable guess he would say that the man was probably in his early forties, dressed in what looked like something a hospital staff would wear, but somehow it was different. He knew he had seen it before, but for the moment his mind was practically standing still, not letting him get any sort of reminder.

"That's how a good boy should react, you see? Now will you stop yourself from asking me any questions for a while, and let me speak? If you can't do that I'm afraid I'll have to go on, keeping you quiet myself."

In the absence of anything else to do Piers nodded quickly to the man, telling him that he wouldn't need his help to be quiet. All he wanted was a couple of answers to this strange situation, and it was perhaps the only way to get it on. The physical grip that prevented him from doing anything released with some hesitation. Piers assumed that the look in his eyes was enough for the man to trust him; not fully, but still enough.

"I am Dr. Yuri Ivanov and I work at the research laboratory here in Edonia, but I believe a soldier like you already know where that is located, don't you? At least your captain do; Chris Redfield, isn't it?" He put his hand beneath Piers' jaw, tilting his head upwards to get a chance locking eyes with him again. "I haven't given you the right to speak yet though, so you just nod or shake your head whenever I'm asking you something. Understood?"

To hear the name of his partner he had left behind formed a heaviness in the chest. A rock that took him back to reality. Now it suddenly became a little clearer to understand, the man had something in mind. This was not just a coincidence, there must have been a reason for them to meet.

He didn't feel like following those rules, but it was probably the best that could be done at the moment, so he gave away a nod in response.

"Well, I think I have something to tell you, and I believe I owe you to do so.. Certainly you know about how your captain is struggling at the hospital right now, and you probably know why, but I'm sure you don't quite know who is responsible." With those words a grin spread at Yuri's lips, something that would make anyone realize what he was referring to, and not least Piers. A flame of anger broke out inside him, something that made it impossible for him to continue following the researcher's regulations.

"So it was you? Why the hell did you do that for? You have ruined ev-"

Yuri grabbed his shoulder before he let all his weight push him down to meet the ground to make the soldier helpless against him. Piers had no chance to push him away when he was already practically sitting on top of him, his voice getting cut off by all the weight that was on his body, as the chilly ground sent shivers down his spine, making him dedicated to the snow. It was as if the man's objective was to suffocate him, all the anger Piers felt for him had also been transported to himself; probably for breaking his rules.

"You think that was the worst thing that could have happened? You stupid kid. I'll make him go through a lot more pain if you refuse doing as I tell you, I have a lot of plans going on in my mind. The best thing you can do is keeping your mouth shut and listen to me, because I have an offer for you, and you will have to be alert while hearing my two options. Got that?"

_ I need to calm down. I can't let Chris down any more than I already have, whatever this man has in store for me, I will have to accept it. I know I do. And I know I will._

It was deadly seriousness that came from those words and it was true what the researcher had said; it was for the best to keep quiet. At least until he had heard about these 'two options' he had just been talking about. This wasn't the right time for any risk-takings and whoever didn't understand that was either a fool, or a person who didn't care.

"Now that you've seemed to calm yourself down for a while it should be an opportunity for me to tell you about this offer of mine. Option one is as simple as you walking away from here, but then your captain will get his life on the line for that choice of yours, trust me. Option two is that you become my… what should I call it… pet, or test-subject if you refer; and your captain will get away harmlessly. Being my 'pet' means you will be at my research laboratory, and you will go through anything I set up for you, no matter how much it will break you down. It's painful, absolutely, but if you want Chris' life to be spared you should choose it. If you're nice I may even let you speak to him through the phone, but I won't allow you to tell him anything about where you are or what you're going through. Believe me; that would cause major trouble for both of you. So what's your choice, kid? One or two? You are allowed to speak now."

The choice was already obvious. Piers would never allow himself to be the reason for Chris' death, no matter how much pain it meant to himself. A reply from him was expected, but the tears were hard to keep away, and there was actually no reason why they shouldn't fall this time. They prevented him from parting his lips and let the researcher hear what he wanted to hear. But it had to be done. This was just the beginning, if even that.

He was too gone in his own thoughts to even notice how Yuri started talking to him with his voice, or the way his hands gently stroked away Piers' tears from his cheeks. There was nothing to how he behaved that was possible to understand. But that was probably his attempts to snare his objects, and his object would soon enough be Piers. He had probably already understood what the choice would be, since he seemed trying to make Piers' feel comfortable to later on subjecting him to a series of tortures that nobody except himself knew about yet.

"I- I choose option two."

Without a word more Yuri smiled at him with that sneaky look that he more than often had used before he got up to grab Piers' arm firmly. "Wise choice, kid. Let us head towards the research facility then, shall we?" With a harsh push on Piers' back he started walking, quicker than the soldier could handle at the moment, giving Yuri a bigger reason to kick his legs from behind. He felt like whimpering in pain but tried not to do so, while trying to walk faster than he had done before, regarding how his body fell apart from the inside.

_If letting myself break down is the only choice I have, then I'll accept it. I may even never see him again, but that won't stop me from doing all I can. I still care, I can't tell myself otherwise, and this is my only way of telling him it. This is what I deserve. I've turned everyone against me, and by now they have probably turned him against me too; I guess that's nothing more than fair, though. You'll never know it, but I'm doing this for you, and that's a huge reason for me not to quit. And I won't do it_. _I will go through with this._


	4. Chapter 4

"Are you kidding me? Look at this, it is barely half full," Chris picked up the glass that stood before him with a quick movement, something that was probably done too hastily since he spilled the booze on his entire hand and on the table. It hurt like a needle as the alcohol hit his wounded hand, but he could barely even notice that right now. If he kept up, drinking at this pace, he would end up not only drunk; but very wasted. Enough wasted to get floored in this bar within some amount of time.

"You want me to teach you how to deal with your job?" His eyes were fixed on the woman in the bar who tried to keep a calm within herself when she decided to make another attempt to get him to understand. This would probably be the last attempt that her patience could handle. "I know perfectly well how to deal with my job, sir, but there's a limit to how much I can serve people like you. If you don't want to realize that I'll have to ask you to go to another bar."

Passing out would be enough for his anguish to get suffocated. It would only last for a couple of hours at its best, but still. It was the whole purpose of him sitting here, making his body suffer from too much alcohol when he wasn't even in the right condition for walking. He wanted to get rid of the pain. Not the pain gained from the attack, but the 'psychological' pain. The bartender seemed to have other plans than to let him go through with his own kind of therapy though. He didn't want to continue arguing with her, so he just shook his head with the hope that another idea of what could be done next would show up in his head. He barely had the time to turn his back against her before he met two different faces standing in front of him. The faces which belonged to the two persons he really didn't want to look at for the moment. As a matter of fact, he most likely would never want to see them in the eye again. Not as long as nothing was fixed.

"Captain! We've been looking for you everywhere, what are you doing here? Don't you realize you should still be at the hospital?" Marco was the one who started talking, but it didn't last long until both of the men who stood before him wrinkled their noses when it hit them what Chris had been doing there. The strong smell of alcohol and his bloodshot eyes revealed him. They exchanged a few glances before they pulled a deep breath each and nodded, almost as if they were trying to think of a solution while understanding something at the same time. "Why-" While Carl was about asking something, Chris went straight into them in order to reach the exit. Both Carl and Marco acted like they had recently heard the wake-up alarm before deciding to follow their captain outside. "You're damn drunk, sir. Mind if we ask you what's wrong?"

All three had recently been close to start running, but when Chris stopped suddenly after hearing Carl's question, the other two also stopped walking. Marco had a despairing look in his eyes; Carl, on the other hand, was as calm as he used to be; and as calm as he had been earlier that day, when he told his captain that Piers had left them for good, on their compromises. After that Chris hadn't said a word to anyone, and suddenly it happened that he was found fooling around in a bar in the middle of the night.

"You ask me what's wrong? Fine, I'll tell you what's wrong, Carl, and that is you two coming here to act like fucking heroes, haven't I told you to stay out of my way? I'm the one to give the orders, not you."

Marco nodded to himself and looked at Carl who still stood a few feet behind Chris with his eyes glued on him even though his back was turned towards his direction. This conversation wasn't over; the look in his eyes could tell that, despite the fact that Chris took the opportunity to continue to stumble his way on the path. Carl continued to follow him with quiet steps while he wore that stubborn look on his face; something that told everyone that he would continue asking things. He wouldn't get anything from doing it, but he didn't seem to care. When he was determined to do something, it was impossible to get him to stop.

"This is about Nivans more than it is about you having smashed your head, isn't it?"

Chris turned around immediately and stood face to face with Carl who should have realized that what he had just said was something inappropriate. But he gave no signals that he did. It was more Marco who understood this could mean getting on even worse terms with their captain. What he, however, did not know was what Chris' eyes expressed each time the man got mentioned. What everyone probably thought was that he expressed anger towards Piers himself, and not the ones who had kicked him out. Marco had started having different thoughts about that statement, though. He had even start hesitating about Piers' guilt, but soon enough realized there would be no point in doing so.

"Come on now you two, I mean; none of you sound reasonable right now. Shouldn't we end the conversation here and head back?"

Carl shrugged and smiled something that looked like a grin; it was almost as if he took the opportunity to mock with his captain when he wasn't fully conscious, but he couldn't deny that Marco's offer might be the best one, so he decided to keep quiet. Chris didn't wait for anyone to answer though; he had already turned around to go on walking towards his goal.

"Aren't you coming with us, Chris? Where 'you heading?"

He wasn't planning on stopping; neither did he have one thought of answering. The voices were fainting the further on the path he came, and he felt like needing it. He needed time to himself; he and his burden alone. Without any other human being trying to make some kind of puzzle of his own life for him to solve. It would be impossible to solve without all of the pieces, so he wouldn't even want to think about having to do that. There was too many pieces missing. Right now, all he wanted was to lie down in the middle of nowhere and let his body control itself. But he still had the understanding to know he would have to reach the car before doing so. Just a few more meters and he would be there.

The final steps he had to drag his legs to even manage getting into the car, directly giving away a hit on the steering wheel. He had to express his feelings on something, and it had been very close for Carl to earn a slap in the face for reminding him, even though it was something that existed in his mind all of the time. Finally, the alcohol took over and he let his whole body fall over the seat, unconsciousness taking over his senses; his mind.

_The caressing hands of the man with a blurred face passionately laid against the young soldier's bleeding skin, his body covered with wounds and scars, his eyes shining intensively from the tears that fall past his eyes. He has been injured. Badly. And you do know it's your fault, Chris, don't you? The 'great captain' is losing his mind. You were the one who did this to him. You failed him. And now he's in the arms of another-_

"Shut up, you just want to fuck up with my head, besides; none of what you tell me can be true. All you want is to torment me, and you have succeeded already, so why the hell aren't you pleased yet?"

But deep inside he knew it; the dreams wouldn't just stop without any reason to. The reason why it made him upset was the pictures of Piers being hurt and taken care of by another person in the way the dream told him, and that was the last thing he would have wanted to see. But it's just a bad dream, right? It's not a certainty though; last time it had been a sign of something that was about to happen, but he prayed to God that it had just been a one-off. But he has to find Piers; and that is soon.

_It's normal for me to want to go look for him, to know how he's doing out there. I don't know if it's normal to have those kinds of dreams, though, and I'm not sure if…_

He hit his head on the steering wheel on purpose, without caring about how that made his head even sorer.

_No, damn it. I can't feel this way about him, it can't be. It just can't. But it is. It is more than a captain wishing the best for his soldier. This is far beyond wrong, and I don't believe the alcohol is responsible this time. Way to go me, you've actually fallen for the boy._

He sighed to himself and let the car engine start, with the knowledge of him _not_ being a steady driver right now. He had -paralyzed- decided to use the car, without thinking if he would even be able to handle it without getting killed. But there was worse ways of getting killed than getting his car crashed; that much he knew by now.


	5. Chapter 5

One hour had passed him by when they could finally walk out of the snowstorm to step into the lighted environment in the form of the research facility. Panic had risen so high that it was stuck in his throat, almost giving him difficulties in breathing. He had been close to running away before he even had set a foot in this corridor; but he knew what would have happened then, so he had had to set up the pace before he would have gone too far. And here he was now; listening to the rustling sounds of a door getting locked behind him, making him realize he would probably be here for a much longer time than he first expected.

"You see, this is highly necessary in case you believe it is fine running away from here whenever you feel like it. Because it isn't, and I will tell you about more details as soon as we get to your room; it's not far from here, we will see the elevator down the hallway soon, He stopped talking and sighed, while his hand formed a gesture towards the younger man, which Piers saw in time as he glanced back at him. "Well, what the hell are you waiting for? A better day? Keep moving, pup." The older man said it as if he could visit Piers' mind to read his thoughts and see the fear in his eye. Bearing in mind that the researcher asked him a question, he was a little unsure if he should answer him or not, but he decided that it was best not to do so. After all, he had been asked earlier not to speak until being given permission to do so; and the least that was needed was more troublemaking.

He tried to ignore the fact that he had this man who felt extremely unreliable walking right behind his heels and started to walk straight ahead as he was forced to do instead. The place was huge, and just about everything was in blinding white. It didn't seem to be many working people there considering the size of the place, though; perhaps it was due to the late time. If it wasn't the late night that kept most of the workers away, the explanation would probably be that the laboratory had some deficiencies. It would not come as a shock to hear at least, since the only person he had seen working here had played out to be –a bit- freaky, and not to mention, sadistic. So to say, his intentions seemed to be a bit more than just developing vaccines to the viruses.

It had been really quiet all the way until they came to a long wing that also was the last one before they would be at the elevator. Noises that were vague was heard; they probably sounded muffled since the doors and the walls were soundproof. They weren't soundproof enough to hold back the sound at a full rate; some of the noises could still be heard. Piers wasn't really interested in knowing what was hidden behind it, though, so he didn't pay full attention to it. He knew he could be expecting almost everything from this place. All he wanted right now was to get to this room the scientist had been talking about. Get everything over with. Know what he wanted from him. Because there has to be a reason to this.

He hadn't noticed it, but they had stopped outside a door where it read 'warning' on in almost too large letters; as if it wouldn't achieve enough attention as it is. He found himself now listening to not only the suffocated sounds, but also the laughter of someone being all too pleased.

"You know what, kid? I think we should begin with your first task instead. So to say, I have changed my plans." The older man said, gripping hold of Piers by his shoulders to turn him around, forcing him to look back at him by locking his own eyes into the soldier's eyes.

"Your lesson will be held in the room that you stand in front of right now. Sure you do remember that we are in a research center, and that you are my pet now? The purpose of this is that we shall see how the creature inside of this room reacts when we inject it with a sort of vaccine a colleague of mine has created over here, together with another researcher. The creature in there is not human from scratch, as we have already exposed it to a series of tries before, including the C virus. This vaccine will not cure the creature, but you should notice a slight difference in behavior. It is not a given, however. We injected it with the vaccine earlier today, and it should have taken its full effect by now. And this is what you are going to test for us in there. You will get a shot of strong sedatives to inject it with submitted under the door some time during the procedure, so do not worry. Of course, the creature is a lot more powerful than you and there is not much of a space in there, and it can break you before you have a chance to inject it with the sedatives; but I believe this is the best shot you have, isn't it? I do believe you remember what I told you earlier."

Yuri's grin didn't seem to disappear for the slightest second while taking every opportunity to enjoy watching the heaving breathing Piers made. It was as if he could behold how the young soldier's nerves danced within him. How his heart jumped in nervousness. How his eyes couldn't help widen slightly in shock.

"You better get yourself together, kid," He grabbed Piers by the neck from behind and leaned forward to whisper into his ear in a low pitch; "That thing in there isn't waiting for anyone to catch his breath, so you better do this properly if you don't want to get punished for it. If you do it right you could get rewarded, though."

After forcing the door open in a sweep, he pushed the younger man in with a sharp blow between the scapulars. He was hurled forward with great speed but managed to save his head from receiving all the damage, though it was only centimeters away from happening. Click. The door was immediately closed behind him. Before him, he could hear a scream that resembled many of the infected creatures' shrieks he had encountered many times before with his team. He tried to rely himself on his hands; tried to get up, but his body gave him resistance like never before. Beneath the gloves, Piers' hands were almost torn; damages made from falling onto the uneven ground. The leather gloves that had tried protecting his now battered hands were pretty much like his own skin and how he felt on the inside; it was almost ironic.

A major step was heard from the creature's direction behind the pulsating sound of his own heartbeats. It had been easy to miss if it weren't for the high noises that it made with its feet while just walking. He thought of what the researcher had said a few minutes before about the vaccine, and there being a chance that the creature has changed its behavior. Maybe it could be enough for it not to attack; had it perhaps been able to gather its senses enough to stay away from doing that this time? It growled angrily while taking a round around Piers who was left lying on the floor, trying to hold his breath. Everything went silent in just the matter of a second. Astonishing, since the creature hadn't seemed to be able keeping quite this whole time.

Until all hell breaks loose; breaking every theory of the vaccine taking effect on the creature.

The creature threw itself over Piers' back panel, clenching his shirt with its claw-alike fingers while pushing him down to the asphalt floor with such force forward that his upper body received a number of scratches. His ribs felt like they could get broken any minute now, every bone in his body telling him 'no', not giving him any response when trying to do something about the situation. It was inhumane, but on the other hand he, or more likely it wasn't human either, so those actions are all you can expect from a creature like this. He tried to breathe, but his lungs were filled not with air but with something that more felt like fire. If the creature would bring itself just a few millimeters closer onto his back he'd probably suffocate in a couple of minutes at most; or at least puncture one of his lungs, if that hadn't already happened. He let out a cry of agony as he felt the weight upon his back suddenly release, finally giving him the chance to take a deep breath.

"Oh, so this explains the stupidity of you not picking up the shot I sent in under the door for you. You know, you could have done that a lot better for your own sakes," Yuri bent down in front of Piers that still was lying with his face down to the floor and put a hand on his head with a sneer on his lips, patting him carefully while lightly running his fingers through his hair. "But I'm pleased with that performance, so you have earned your reward. I am a man who keeps his promises, after all. You could start by sitting up; this thing won't be sleeping for too long."

Piers couldn't claim that the first person he wanted to see was the sadist shipwrecked scientist, but he was, on the other side, not expecting anyone else. He was mostly relieved to be away from the obstacle in the shape of that creature at this moment. He knew that Yuri had obviously planned all this, and doubted whether there was both a vaccine used and a shot with sedative sent in under the door, but there wasn't enough time to think about that. He was still supposed to get away from this room, so he made another attempt in getting up as he had done before. His legs carried him this time, but just barely. Practically every step he took required a small whimpering; earning a nod from Yuri which was meant to express false sympathy, but that so clearly showed how pleased he was with Piers suffering.

Luckily enough, the room that was scheduled to go to was positioned very close from there, and at the same time they got there, Yuri pointed at a chair who told the younger man that it was free for him to sit down as he sat down on another chair in front of Piers. He rolled his chair a few feet to a dresser and took out a couple of things like bandages and other equipment to use when taking care of wounds before he slowly rolled back to face Piers.

"You're allowed to speak now, pup. At least until you have had your little phone call."

He swept tissues soaked in cleansing preparations on Piers' hands after taking off his gloves just as he opened his mouth to try to answer; not that the pain there was much compared to the one in his lungs.

"A phone call? To- who?"

Piers' crackling voice together with his question made the older man look at him with slight shock in his eyes; amusement, of course, but still a small ounce of shock.

"Certainly I'm talking about your Captain, Chris Redfield. You do want that, don't you?"

He didn't really believe it had been a word of truth Yuri had spoken at the time, but when he mentioned it he nodded quickly in response to show him that he didn't want to let the chance run from him in the first place. Yuri made a gesture with his head towards the phone lying on a table behind Piers before standing up without a sound until he reached the door;

"The phone will only be functional at specific times, and I hope you remember what I told you about telling someone about your location or even about someone around here; It is top secret, and I will know if you have told anyone about anything, believe me. This time I will give you, let me say… ten minutes?"

Piers was unsure of whether or not he'd even finished the sentence before he went out of the room, and if he'd come back again in a few seconds, but he took the opportunity to dial Chris' number. He had, after all, not even had the chance of being told if he had woken up yet, and was more than just curious in getting to know.

It was not until the signals stopped and the call connected as nervousness hit him for real.

_What should I even begin with? Why doesn't he say something?_

Then it hit him; no number is obviously shown on his presenter. Everything his captain hears over the phone is a person who breathes right into his ear without knowing who it is. At least that's exactly what Piers hears for a moment, but the difference is he knows who the man is from the beginning of the call.

"Hey? Who is this?" Chris says, still keeping an even tone in his voice.

_He sounds okay, maybe not completely repaired ... but still, awake from his coma. And that's a good sign._

"Captain, it's me."

It was not much of an answer if he came to think of it afterwards, but he both thought and hoped that he would be recognized anyway.

"Piers? Why are you calling? Don't get me wrong now, I'm really glad you're doing so, it's just that…" 'The older man states while he quite seems to forget about sounding even and starts to sound shocked, and caring, instead.

"Uh- I just wanted to check on you to hear if everything's all right back there. So, is it? H-how are you feeling?" Piers began to tremble a little on the voice, and just hoped that it wouldn't be clearly heard through the phone.

"That's not the most important thing right now. Where the hell are you anyway; are you still in Edonia? And what have happened to your voice? It doesn't sound too good." Chris said, letting the worried side of his voice slowly show off.

The younger man who sat on the other end of the phone shook his head with disappointment. No matter how much he wanted to tell him he just couldn't, and he knew it. He would be forced to say something else to him, even though he didn't want to lie; and especially not to Chris. But what else is there to do?

"I just recently arrived in the US, so I guess I got a cold from someone on the airplane or something; that's just simply my luck." He answered with a humorless chuckle, adding a little coughing just for the sakes of him 'having a cold', and not sore lungs from screaming in pain half an hour ago.

"The US, eh? I think you and I have a lot to talk about, so why don't we just meet up somewhere and do so? You get to decide whatever place you want us to meet. Or do the cold take too much energy from you?" Chris said, with a hopeful tone in his voice, lingering it with a bit of hidden irony, ending with a sigh like he wanted to tell Piers something by doing so. He didn't want to offend Piers in any way, and he made that clear, despite the hint of irony.

But he managed to tell him something with it; for instance, Piers could tell how Chris began to suspect how Piers orchestrated everything, making him weak to his limbs, still having hope that his captain only hadn't completely heard what he'd said.

"No, but, I-I… That isn't possible yet, Captain; there is a big gap between Serbia and USA. I guess we could do that when you get back here, though." Piers said, trying to keep his voice steady so that he wouldn't reveal himself by waving his voice all too much, even though it was hard keeping his voice in control.

"Listen, Piers; I know you're still in Edonia, so stop talking bullshit. You haven't already forgotten about the automatic tracking technology through my telephone, have you? Look, I don't have any idea why you're lying to me, but you better stop doing that and tell me what the hell is going on. I'm asking you once again; where are you?" Chris raised his voice a bit, but he still didn't sound angry, but rather kept sounding worried, if not even more this time.

Busted.

He had completely forgotten that Chris could see in what city he was at the moment. He didn't only feel guilty, he also felt like a complete idiot who lied to Chris. Mostly because he knew his captain didn't know why he did so. He didn't know that Piers couldn't tell him where he was. That a sadist researcher probably sat somewhere right now, listening to their calls. What would he even do now? Would he react to this? Chris couldn't get to know anything more. If it was possible, he would. Definitely. But right now; it wasn't possible.

Piers took himself several more seconds to think of an appropriate response while Chris was waiting on the other side of the phone with patience until he took a deep breath and continued talking without Piers saying anything there in between.

"I got up a little map now anyway, so I can at least see roughly where you are on it. I'll get there if you refuse to talk to me otherwise, Piers. How do you want it? The easy or the hard way?"

What did he say? Did he already know where he was? Now that was a technology he wasn't aware of.

The world around began to spin like they were on wheels before he felt that the phone was ripped apart from his grasp when was about to tell Chris not to do anything hasty. Yuri grabbed Piers' waist in a tight grip and the phone in the other hand and held it tightly against his cheek, starting to speak directly;

"You better hurry then, 'Captain Redfield'; you have put the boy's life on the line, let me tell you that much." Yuri said, glancing at Piers with a threatening look upon his face.

"What the hell is this?" Chris now had elements of fear in his even voice, almost speaking with an uncertainty to his tone.

"You tell me. We will see how much you care for your boy scout, and whether you are fast enough to make it in time. It's not a particularly long time left for him when he was this disobedient…" Yuri brought his other hand against Piers' collarbone and pressed his fingernails against his tanned skin to scratch him hard enough to get him to whimper and earn a hiss from him at the same time.

"Piers?! What's happening? I'm coming for you, ok? Just hang in there; I'll be on my way. I promise." Chris lowered his voice and hurried his words that were followed by a loud noise which probably was him putting down his cellphone without ending the call. He presumably wanted to hear if something else happened in the meantime.

"I'll be looking forward to it, Redfield. Good luck." Yuri hung up on him and closed his eyes, inhaling oxygen as he looked as if he was dreaming for a moment in complete satisfaction and stood up quickly after opening them. He grabbed Piers arm with a hard, firm grip and stared straight into his eyes as he spoke;

"And you, young man, are following me. As you heard me say to your Captain; you have one heck of a lesson in front of you. You thought your last lesson was tough? Oh boy... you just better hope for your 'savior' to get here in time to help you out, because no one else will."


	6. Chapter 6

There was no sound from the cellphone anymore. It was like, dead. Well, at least sonically; the GPS function was still running like it should. Had that lunatic hung up on him at last? Most definitely. And he probably didn't have any plans to let anyone make it there in time to.. _No. This isn't the time to get bogged down in thoughts. There is still time. I've just got to make damn sure of it myself. Yeah, that's it._ It was times like this Chris was glad that he had spent hours in his car before getting that phone call, for what reason didn't matter anymore, because it was just timely. Now, _maybe _he could get there in time. _If only I could get more information on the place using the help of this function... Nah, you know what, never mind. That won't work._ He put the pedal to the metal while he let his fingers dance irritably upon the steering wheel. _I guess I'll recognize the streets the farther I drive._

The map on the screen told him that traveling time was around thirty minutes long if you drive with the permitted speed, but today was not about following the laws; it was about doing everything in his power to save _him_. _What had that dream for interconnection with this? What if he didn't know about any of this? Perhaps he was there voluntarily, maybe that's the reason he was lying. _The heartrending screaming he had heard just some moments earlier was now heard echoing in his head. He didn't want to hear it replay in his mind; he really didn't. But his head was playing a reckless game with him, and it wanted him to be part of it himself. It wanted him to hear everything again, to build flashbacks of a scene where the man he couldn't help but_ feel_ so much for got hurt. _Hurt_, while Chris was on a different place, _trying_ to catch up to him, but instead got involved in some battle between him and his thoughts. But that's how it's bound to go when you feel you have the need to repay someone back for saving you from your darkest depths once, and all you want to do is the same for him. _How it's meant to go when you love someone to the marrow of your bones_.

Seconds away from crashing into a large building faced him quickly. The car was centimeters, which was perceived to be millimeters, away from brutally tasting cement and stone before Chris managed to turn it in the right direction again.

He took a deep breath and kept driving the fastest the car would allow him to; because that's all he was able to do at the moment. But he kept the air in his lungs for a few seconds; the shock of his own possession, of his own loss of mind, didn't quite want him to let go of it yet, so he didn't. He decided to set his eyes on the car's front window and let himself cast a few glances on the map on the cellphone that was lying just next to him. The dot on the map which showed where he was approached quickly to the other dot that resembled where Piers would be. There was a shorter distance between the two places than Chris could have imagined it to be at the beginning, at least. It was practically just one building right in front of him; a really big one, for that matter, so you couldn't miss it. He _had_ also been here before, not on the inside of the walls, but close enough on the outside to know that it was the research facility.

It was far from something that made him surer of this, to be honest, it frightened him to death, but there was no hesitation to it when he jumped out of the car and ran through the doors. He _would _search the place, and he _would_ make it in time, no matter how his heart was up in his throat right now, choking him. But how doubtful wasn't that if he wouldn't receive any clues at all? He continued running, shouting _his_ name; even though he knew responding certainly wouldn't have been the first thing to pop up in his mind at a time like this. He could hear nothing more than a sound from the lower levels, so it was all he had to go on right now. He had to follow that feeling, so he took off to the elevators to let the sounds lead the way; hopefully the right way. What else could he do? He didn't even want to think about the consequences if this was the wrong way. _You have put the boy's life on the line, let me tell you that much..._ He could lose just about everything in one decision.

* * *

Piers sat on the floor in the middle of an almost abandoned room, staring out in the thin air, without even knowing what he was doing. Well, he avoided looking at the man who seemed to manage to get everywhere in his field of view, at least. He had given him enough creeps to be kept in a box for a couple of weeks more, if not longer. He knew very well what awaited him, much had already begun, and he only _hoped_ his captain would not be so stupid that he would do what he told him to do. That he would actually get there. _Why_?

Yuri would probably not wait much longer, his furious eyes revealed that. They practically shone with a desire to end something big. Like a life. But what was he waiting for? It's not as if Piers directly cares about what time of the night he is going to let down the fire when he was still going to die.

"Tell me, do you still have hope in your 'Captain Redfield'? Because I can't see him anywhere. And here _I_ had hope in a little reunion… I am utterly disappointed."

One of the worst things about people like him is that you never know when they show up in your face, and suddenly they hold their hand to your mouth, and press you hard against the ground. Just like now. It was perhaps not the most necessary thing to do since Piers certainly didn't plan saying a word to him, but maybe he wanted to be sure of his thing, who knows? Or perhaps the aim was to hit the back of his head against the floor; really hard, but not hard enough to get him to pass out because he do want to keep him awake when the real things begin.

Yuri sat down upon the younger man and put his hands in a tight grip around Piers' neck, and given his length perhaps you could think that he could have such power, but not if you only looked at his body size. While leaning over him slowly, Piers felt resistance running out quickly beneath him.

"Do you think he has anything against this? Come on, fight against me."

Yuri let go of him when he discovered that no resistance came from his side. Not anything at all seemed to come from that direction, actually; _maybe_ a couple of weak breaths, but if so, that's everything. He backed away a bit from Piers and looked as if he was thinking for a very brief moment before he rolled his eyes and drew his fingers through his blond, almost white, hair.

"For heaven's sake, don't tell me you just died by that little process, because we are not done yet. I mean, that wasn't even part of my plan.. I'm going to go get a few things, it can take a while, but when I get back here, well.. you better be alive."

Without a clue of where he was right now he could hear what was happening around him, but very scarcely. It was like being trapped inside of his own body, and not being able getting away from there.

And perhaps this is what it felt like, having his soul buying a pair of wings, flying somewhere else, away from this universe, away from his own body. Away from something he used to own.

* * *

"Piers?"

Chris had just had time to shout out his name when he opened the door. He not only _opened_ the door, he practically _broke_ down the door, for he had a feeling that this particular door was his last hope. Complete silence struck him as soon as he came in; the sounds had apparently stopped a little while ago. A bad feeling filled him from the inside and out. And this was even before his eyes had the time to seek something out. It didn't take long they actually did got stuck on something, though. And it got stuck on the face, the body, the _boy_, he knew so well, who just laid there on the ground.

Something that made it look like as if he had settled down and submitted hope.

Eyes shut closed, mouth slightly opened, without a single motion made.

Large, red marks were stained on the otherwise so smooth skin. Most of his tanned features of the skin had been brought away. Rage boiled up inside of his veins for the one who had caused all of this. But this wasn't the right time for it to show.

He threw himself down on his knees on the ground next to Piers and laid his fingertips against his neck with hopes to feel that pulsing beat.

"Don't you do this to me, Piers. That's a command, and I'm _not _done giving you those, not yet. You hear me?" His other hand was trying to take the pulse of his wrist. Either was it very difficult to take it from anyone when his own hands were actually shaking like a darn leaf, or there was just nothing there.

Whatever the answer was, he couldn't take any chances. Not with him.

He put both his hands on the lying man's chest and sat in position so he could look down on his face for a second before he brought down his own face against Piers' face. He quickly opened his lips and let them meet soft and thick lips immediately. His heart probably skipped a beat the same moment he allowed himself to breathe for him, he could admit that much. It felt forbidden to associate the mouth to mouth method with something like a kiss, but he did actually want to forget about all of the impossibilities for a few seconds before reality was there to hit him again.

To feel as if it was just the two of them. Without one of them being practically lifeless.

Who would care about him admitting anything, if the person he was admitting it to got lost? When this whole situation was like hell on two wandering legs anyway?

He could as well show himself vulnerable to the whole wide world.

The mouth to mouth resuscitation had now brought up a recognizable pulse to him, at least. It was a good sign, but was it enough? He needed immediate medical attention. When he realized that Piers didn't seem to be in the right condition to do anything at all, he decided to lift him up, but he had no chance whatsoever to do so until he felt something directed directly against his head from behind, and he didn't have to deal out two guesses of what that was.

"Oh, so you made it, Redfield. What a pleasant surprise this is. And the boy scout hasn't quite woken up yet I see. What to do with him? I know what you were trying to do, but.. unluckily for you, I am here now, so that's not going to happen. And how is he going to get to a hospital if I shoot you?"

He still had a hold on Piers' hand, which he seemed to feel a response from for the first time in the form of a light touch. If it happened for real or if his senses were playing a trick on him he didn't know, but it even looked as if he struggled to get his eyes open, almost as if he wanted to get something said, but still didn't show much of a sign.

_He_ weren't supposed to be struggling this badly, that man shouldn't be here, and _things_ weren't supposed to turn out like this.

Chris caught hold of his hand harder.

This is just way too much.

He hopes that the man is willing to negotiate.

* * *

_~A/N: Well, this is a bit of a delay, but I haven't been feeling that great, so.. Anyways, I am more than a bit unsure of this story, but I thought I should finish it anyway so I will, but I am apologizing for it if it's necessary. And oh, thank you for your R/R & F/F; I really appreciate it guys!_


	7. Chapter 7

Everything had just gone so fast, _too_ fast actually, and now it was almost as if he was watching his life in a movie that was played in slow motion.

Was it he who was the one supposed to act, anyway? The one everyone was expecting to say something. Probably. Maybe that is the reason it felt like this.

He had to act. He couldn't afford being the slow reactor; not again.

"Take a good look, will you? You get nothing from doing this, just put your gun down, let him get to the hospital and then we can-"

A loud laughter interrupted him, startled him, actually. Chris had never expected that it would be easy to sit on the floor with a gun pointed against his head between two very different kinds of people to him, the man who held the gun, and the man that he would have taken the bullet for, but he would have given half of everything for it to be easy. The other half of it would have been used to rewind this whole thing, and what is obvious is that the whole part of '_everything_' would have been shed for _him_.

And by the mentioning of him, he threw away a glance at his features again. He was just as eye-catching beautiful as he used to be, and that wasn't even a word that Chris used to use, and especially not when talking about one of his soldiers, but who was he to do something about it? He felt like a youth having a crush in high school again, and not even this fear of still not being able to see his golden eyes could scare away that feeling. God he would do anything to bring him just a few inches closer..

"Oh come on Redfield, I get a lot from doing this, so you will have to give me more convincing than that.."

The man's voice brought him back to reality again. He dragged the time out; it was possible to guess right away, but he wouldn't get it how he wanted it all too much.

"Would you shut up and listen to me? Look, I don't know what it is you want but I said I will stay here if you just let him get away, because he needs it. Quick."

Chris had kept track of Piers' ability during all this time by not letting go of his hand, by at least feeling _some_ kind of response, and now it was as if he was trying to take on a kind of power; some sort of battle, he squeezed his captain's hand _hard_, and had his condition been better it probably would have been an even harder grip.

He mimed something; he couldn't give away any sound, no word came from his lips. He wanted to say something again, but all that came out was a whimper of pain before the violent coughing began. This was a show that made everyone fall silent for a moment. Chris didn't know what he would do at first, panic ran over him for two seconds; maybe more, before he snaked his arm around Piers' back and held him up gently, doing the obvious. He got drained by ignorance towards the man standing behind him; watching their every move.

Was he still doing so? Sure he was.

He just didn't have the will to care about laying an eye on him. He knew he _should_ care, that he was dealing with actions that bore a price tag with a large number, but he just couldn't bring himself to do so.

Piers sat up by Chris' help and bowed his head forward; still shaking it violently. Chris put a hand under his chin and tilted his head up firmly to take a look. His eyes were half open now, watered by tears, a sight that was painful to see for the older man. _He_ felt pain, and a desperate want surged through his veins; a want to just wipe away all of the tears from his cheeks with hope that his pain were just buried in them. Because if it was, it would all go away. Get transported from the soldier to the captain while staining his hands.

Chris was willing to deal with it instead. But it wasn't going to be that easy, was it?

It wasn't until the scientist had changed his position and now stood behind Piers that ignorance could disappear. His shadow was simply just there, right in front of his eyes. His hand simply just lay above his shoulder. Nothing of it belonged there; but yet everything of him was at its place.

He would certainly keep an eye on him this time.

"You're looking at him like he was your goddamn girlfriend, Redfield. Have you such a hard time, finding a catch that you have to flirt with your boy scouts?"

_And the gun? Where the hell did he keep it now?_

Wait- _what_?

He could feel two fluttering eyes staring at him right after both had heard those words.

It could only mean that it was Piers.

What does that mean? That he _knows_?

Chris chose to pretend like he didn't know that he was getting watched.

Just as if that would have been the best solution.

But he could still have it as an excuse to keep track of the maniac.

Yuri bent down on the ground and sat down so everyone sat in the same height, still behind the younger man.

"As for your offer.." With a sudden movement he took a handful of Piers' hair and pulled his head backwards, earning a small hiss from him and at the same time a reaction in the form of a twitch from Chris' direction. "We're getting there, sit down and enjoy the show first, hm?"

He did what he was told to do; he sat down again, but that wouldn't mean that he gave up hope.

It didn't last long, however.

The contented blonde put his hand in a grip around Piers' neck and really let his nails sink into his skin.

Chris flew up from his seat again. He couldn't stand just watching this. What was his plan anyway by letting him suffer like this? What does he mean by 'show'?

He doesn't want to wait to find out.

He doesn't want to hear his pained attempts to a stifled scream anymore.

It didn't last long until Yuri pulled out his gun, either; the man was unnaturally quick in his actions; _that_ you couldn't deny in any way, and even if Chris would have wanted to take the gun from his grip that was just something he just couldn't do. And he would certainly not risk anything by trying to.

He pressed it against the sniper's cheek, whose body just hung there. He squeezed his eyes shut along the sensation of the cold metal brushing against his skin.

He looked ready; why did he look ready?

"Wipe away that look from your face, love. Breathe in, breathe out. Calm down, sit down."

_Damn. I said that out loud, didn't I?_

"Did I just hear you correctly? You are crossing a lot of lines right now, but right, I let you have a second of cuddling before, here, take your lover boy," Yuri said, before pushing Piers towards Chris with such speed that his body fell straight to the other, with his face first. Chris grabbed his arms and supported him in an attempt to get him to sit upright. Their eyes met, and there was no way for Chris to avoid to be looked at this time.

And it was somewhere on the road where brown eyes met honey-colored ones a confusion was trapped. Or was it disgust? On a second thought, perhaps it was.

The younger one broke eye-contact, looked away, turned his head away, and furrowed his eyebrows. Raised them perhaps? It was hard to see in his state. He did as well as he could. He probably did as well as he could to show how incredibly stupid his captain is.

Chris knew it from the beginning; of course, it would never, ever be a way that it would be possible to get a way to him.

But it did sort of hurt anyway.

"The 'great captain' is getting rejected by the pup, isn't he? Interesting. Oh well.. there's no time to waste."

According to him, it was time for the fast movements again, and Piers was down on the ground before the scientist even had time, finish speaking.

A loud noise filled the room. It sounded like a scream. What was that noise anyway? Chris watched the scientist with terror in his eyes. His skin now almost had the color grey, but he didn't look any particularly different apart from that. His teasing smile was as its right place while his eyes wandered between the sniper who lay in front of him and the captain who was sitting on the same spot as he had done before. The sound came from him.

_Was he infected? _

A look towards the soldier's direction again. He showed that little signs again. And yet Yuri was about to sit on him, at the same time he looked at Chris with that look upon his face that spoke of something happening by doing anything hastily.

_Now what?_

"Get away from him_. Now._"

His hands became enmeshed around his shoulders, his face was too close to his face. No resistance was made. It was not surprising, however, he couldn't do any resistance. But he was breathing, right? He was probably just unconscious, _right_?

"What will _you_ do, Redfield? You're trying to threaten me?"

A gun shot from nowhere.

The body fell on the boy.

Voices that he recognized all too well echoed in his head. They were here, and it was them who had done it for him. He felt a hand on his shoulder from behind. He was too shocked to turn around, and he didn't want to yet. He would find out how they got here eventually; right now, he wanted to know if Piers was unhurt.

"We got the bastard, Carl. Cap'n, are you okay?"

Chris decided to do what was easy, nod quickly instead of shaking his head and give an honest answer. He crawled a few feet up to the younger man and pushed away the body of the scientist that lay on top of him. His heart was still beating, and it was all that mattered for the moment, all of the other worries will have to be saved for later. Now he was going to get to the hospital.

"U-Cap, What are ya- Damn, Nivans.. he's still alive. We thought he was dead, lying like that and all.. y'know." Carl said, locking his eyes on their captain who was already lifting the brunette up, preparing to leave.

"You have a car with you, right?" Chris was on his way to the lifts with the soldier kept tightly in his arms while he was talking to both of them that were with him in a step behind.

"Sure we do! It's standing right outside-" Carl said, getting interrupted in the middle of a sentence by Chris while pushing a button in the elevator once everyone were in.

"Let's get going then. Marco, you grab the wheels, and I want to hear about how you two got here on the drive there."

"You got it, Sir."

"Deal."

Infection. Blood. Rejection.

Getting them to talk was really just a way to get time to think.


	8. Chapter 8

The trip to the hospital went as quickly as they could get it to go, they got treated by a bunch of nurses directly as they came in, _he_ got brought away to a room to get some things 'fixed', as they chose to call it, and the other three got told to sit in the waiting room.

They had now been there for over two hours without getting any information; the waiting area was a horrible place, and not even consuming coffee could be the savior this time. There was just too much time to think about everything else in here. The fact that everything was painted in the white color of the sky didn't help that much either.

God, someone sure wanted this to get worse, didn't they?

But heaven wouldn't be touched in this case.

Absolutely not.

He nervously started drumming his fingers on the arm of his chair. He knew that Marco and Carl looked at him, but he couldn't care less for the moment. They couldn't have chosen a worse time for it, but how could they have known? He's just glad they can't see more than what the eye shows. Other people here didn't seem to judge his behavior. They didn't know about his situation and he didn't know about theirs; that's how it worked out in this area.

He wondered how he would explain to him that the threat wasn't over yet.

Did he feel it himself?

He had been so close to just telling him those small words with a meaning that would be far too inappropriate in that all too inconvenient place.

He let his feelings take over, and he had some punishment to deal with for it.

A part of him still wished he would have done it, though.

"Christopher Redfield?"

He had never flown up from a seat as fast as he just did before, but the middle-aged nurse seemed to wait for him to sit down again, so he did.

"Mr. Nivans' medical condition is stable for now, but the doctor wants us to keep an eye on him, so he will stay here for a while. You are free to go see him, it's the third room to the left, but please be gentle with him."

She gave a meaning look to those other two before she turned around and waited for a few seconds while Chris hesitated whether or not something should, or should not, be said from his side.

He pulled a deep, but discretely made breath before deciding that he really needed to know. He was overwhelmed to hear that everything had went well, but this was very important aswell.

"Have you been taking blood samples?"

He stared down at the ground, Marco's motions froze where he sat on his right side as if he felt that something was wrong and the nurse's eyes looked at him with a worried expression in her eyes. It was probably because of the way he reacted himself, but he couldn't help it.

"Cap'n?"

"No we haven't done that yet, Mr. Redfield. Does the patient have any blood disease that we should be aware of?"

"I- I don't know. I don't think so, no."

The nurse's pager interrupted the moment and it couldn't have been a better, nor a worse time for it to happen. She pulled it up, looked at it for a few seconds and Chris took the opportunity to turn up his own gaze.

"I'll report in for a blood sample on Mr. Nivans. I'll have to go see a patient now, but I'll be back later."

She disappeared from the waiting room before one of them had the time to do more than blink a few times, and Chris made the decision to go visit Piers in his room as soon as she was gone.

He could hear a slight objection from Marco and Carl but he didn't make the effort to turn around to hear what they had to say. He went around the corner, stopped outside the room the nurse had said belonged to him and carefully opened the door.

"Come in."

Chris did as he was told, but did so very slowly, he had been afraid to wake him up at first. Piers was lying on the bed on his side; facing the wall, making it quite difficult to determine whether he was asleep or not, but his voice revealed him.

He found a chair to sit on beside the gurney, so he did it; he was going to give him time.

"Hey kid, how are you feeling?"

"..Chris?"

He turned around where he was on the bed and they made eye contact after just a few seconds of searching. Seeing those pieces of gold for eyes _now_ was a higher price than it had ever been before. It had been far too long since last time.

These eyes were enough to catch him off guard, to lose himself to _this_ moment and he had almost forgotten about nodding, but he did eventually; just in case it would be necessary.

"I was wondering when you'd show up."

"Really? How come?"

"Well..," Piers' eyes wandered past Chris' facial features before they flickered once and went back again. "I wanted to thank you."

"For what?"

"You saved me."

The words ran over the older man like a wave, but he didn't want it to be thought of that way for _him_. He had been rescued by the man who was lying in front of him; facing him, not vice versa. He had made him realize so much in life in such a short amount of time.

Didn't he notice it?

"You didn't expect me to just leave you there, did you?"

"I appreciate it."

Piers embraced the power and traveled a bit on his head; the corners of his mouth turned up slowly and formed did that little smile of his.

It was so unlike a captain to lose control of himself, but he almost had to put restraints not to push further and throw himself over those soft cushions for lips and kiss him already.

Why was he always so damn _beautiful_?

Suddenly guilt flew over him; a need to explain the actions he had brought himself to do earlier in the facility to him, but he didn't know what he wanted it to come up as yet.

He didn't regret a single bit of it, but he had practically scared him away, and that was something that wasn't even lying upon the list of things he wanted to do.

"Look- about what I said back there.."

"What? Oh- Chris.. It's just normal if you were thinking of someone while in that shithole. I know it wasn't meant to me."

Somehow, he had hoped that it wouldn't have been those words that would have come out of his mouth, but now that was the fact, and the game would have to be played after his rules.

Not even his heartwarming smile could save the intoxication the blood gave his whole body to feel right now.

He hesitated in his own response while giving his emotions enough time to get annoyed at himself in an invisible self for being such a coward he never thought he would be.

"I guess."

But it seems he was.

Piers nodded with a quick motion of his head, turning his gaze downwards and holding it there for a few seconds before starting to change his position and half lie on his back instead of on his side.

His smile had become stiff, he seemed to turn his gaze at everything except Chris, and the feeling of rejection was back at its right place.

What did this mean?

He just didn't know anymore.

"I think I want to be alone for a while, you know.. just rest a bit."

The younger man wouldn't have had to tell him anything to get him to understand it; as a matter of fact, he had almost finished standing up before he had said it.

He didn't understand everything, but he understood _this_ one thing.

"Of course."

Everything else apart from that went very quiet from Chris' side; he turned around and walked towards the door but stopped by it when he heard a hoarse voice coming from behind again.

"Chris, wait- You'll come back later, right?"

"If you want me to."

"Yeah, thanks."

Chris walked out of the room, relieved to have been told that he was expected to come back later but weighed down that things weren't exactly as he wanted them to be.

He walked through the hallway, passing by a couple of doctors, nurses and patiently waiting people before he found the familiar faces in the same spot as they had sat on when he left earlier.

They waved at him to come and sit with them, so he did; it was not like there were many other choices to choose between anyway.

"So, Cap.. Nivans is doing alright?"

Carl set his eyes on his captain, Marco pretended to do something else and Chris alternated between watching Carl and past him to give him the conversation he seemed to have started.

"Yeah, I hope so, pretty much."

"Yeah? No HIV or any other blood disease then?"

"Carl."

Marco made an effort to make it into the conversation as he always did, but it never used to be of any use, so he never did anything more.

"It's nothing like that."

Chris chose to look past him completely, he often said stupid things, but to do it about _him_ in this way was just to go overboard.

"Ya' sure?"

He shook his head, stood up, and walked away without giving any answer in return; something in this style was really not needed right now.

* * *

It was getting quiet at the hospital, and what always tends to be dazzled white began to be dimmed. It was still light, of course, but still a bit darker. Chris had found a sort of a balcony on the same floor as the waiting room lie on, so he had chosen to spend his time there for a while.

He waddled himself back and forth; something that seemed to be the only escape from the cold nowadays.

Behind him he heard the tempo beginning to increase; emergency alarm, people running the floor, and generally just panicking.

A nurse's voice that he somehow knew chimed in behind him before he had time to wonder to himself what was going on.

"Mr. Redfield? Oh, there you are! Could you please come with me?"

"What's going on?"

She was stressed, her cheeks were red and his eyes were wide open. She looked worried; like she had done earlier.

"Mr. Nivans is acting quite strange, and, well, he wanted you to come."

"I'm coming."

None of them followed each other's step as they walked, nearly ran, toward Piers' room, Chris couldn't stay behind her when it came to this.

What could be wrong?

The emergency alarms weren't because of him, were they?

"We got a few samples before it started at least, so we're just waiting for the test results now."

He swallowed hard, nodded quickly, watched as she opened the door and followed her gesture to go in first.

The first thing he saw was Piers lying on his back, staring up at something that seemed to be very interesting in the ceiling. At least_ that_ looked as good as normal.

He decided to go to the bed, to see what she meant by saying that he was behaving strangely.

"I'm sorry."

He clenched his jaw, his voice was very low, and when his face turned to Chris, the gaze was empty and staring.

"What?"

"I- I should have-"

All he had in his body strained it looked like, he pressed his arms against himself and Chris doesn't really know why, and he surely doesn't know that himself either, but it was probably just to have something to do with them.

"You should have..?"

Suddenly he grabbed Chris' shoulder while he started shaking lightly all over his body; it was visible, and it looked like it hurt him.

"I'm scared."

"Why?"

"Y-you.. ugh."

His eyes rolled back, the grip on his shoulder came loose, he fell back into bed and he began to whimper in pain before a strain of blood ran down his lower lip.

"Piers?"

Chris gently stroked his lower lip with his thumb and looked if it was from there the blood came, but that was not the case.

Luckily, the nurse came back to the room again, this time she had a sort of mask in her hand that got connected to a machine as soon as she saw Piers' medical condition.

"Breathe through this, honey," She looked towards Chris direction while she put the mask on Piers and explained;"I'll be right back."

Chris sat on his right side of the bed and waited until they had eye contact, he looked at him for a while before he realized that Piers had to fight to keep his eyes open, so he realized that it was the mask that did its job.

"You know, Piers, I'm scared too. Terrified, actually, if I'd lose you."

And this was the only time he dared to say something like that.

But considering how he managed to make his eyes look so big for a few seconds before he closed them, maybe it even arrived.

Suddenly she was here again, and she was in the panic she used to be in.´

"You'll have to leave now, Sir. We have to bring him into surgery."


	9. Chapter 9

The sniper had been forced off to this cold room-which could equally well be called 'the death cellar'- for a high number of minutes ago, so here he was; _lying_ on some kind of _table_, with a sense of something strange. The strange feeling he had was probably because of the fact that he could even _feel_ anything in this situation when he was supposed to be sedated- or something else, if unlucky.

This couldn't be what it felt like to be _it_, could it?

"He is waking up. What should we do, doctor?"

A young nurse's voice came from his left side, her voice was low and it sounded like she actually believed that the meaning of 'waking up' could be changed by hearing someone's voice or not this time. But she was probably just nervous, like everyone else around the table seemed to have become with that sentence.

It felt strange to hear someone, to have all these people gathered around him in some sort of ring, and he was still not quite sure of where he was yet. They were distant, not quite in focus, and what was actually the purpose of lying here?

"Doctor?"

He opened his eyes and was immediately greeted by a blinding light so he tried to give them some kind of rest by closing them, but it felt as if he was still staring blindly at it without any mercy.

What was that? What were they doing? Everyone had been talking about some sort of light the last seconds of life, is that it?

"How much anesthetic s did you give him before the operation?"

Just when Piers was about to look towards the direction where the male voice had come from was a hand lain against his forehead and something velvety before his eyes made him feel blind. It felt quite relieving for his eyes' sake, but for his own sake it was like being locked in his self again.

"We gave him a high dose, he shouldn't be awake by now.."

And there was that nurse again.

"That means he can't have any more. I will have to finish this without him being asleep."

And that doctor.

Piers wanted to escape.

He didn't have any idea of what these people were talking about or what he was doing here, but he sincerely wanted to escape.

He tried the method of flying up from the bed, but it was prevented by this entire masked hospital staff that held him down against the bed like as if he was wearing restraints.

The small act was a terrible pain-alerter, it was something that normally would have gotten him to know that he was alive, but it didn't help him this time. He needed stronger evidence, but what could actually be more powerful than to feel something?

"You have to stay still, honey. We're done any minute now."

He himself could have been able to listen to it, but his body acted differently to it; it still wanted to break out of all those reins, it didn't want to wait any longer. His voice didn't want to wait any longer either; it wanted to be heard, but certainly that wasn't the case; it got stuck in his throat while increasing the pain in his chest. He was shaking, almost hyperventilating, and the pulse and the heartbeats built their own life as the machines stood on high gear on both sides of him.

The nurse pulled away the velvety patch on the eyes of the brunette and he could see again, until he had to fight to keep his eyes straight since they wanted to either roll back, down, or get shut completely.

"We have to stop this procedure now, doctor."

One heartbeat.

"I'm almost finished, just hang in there, Piers."

A loud howl from the machine, a line on the screen which started to get protracted, a pulse that began to drop abnormally.

_"You know, Piers, I'm scared too. Terrified, actually, if I'd lose you."_

Another heartbeat.

"He is losing a lot of blood."

"We're losing him."

"Prepare the defibrillator."

_'I never meant to scare you, Chris. Ever.'_

* * *

'It's not a very big procedure'-that was what they had said, but when the founder of the BSAA had asked them exactly what they would do they were a little concealment with it, oddly enough. Maybe it was the fact that time wasn't the best; or maybe it was because they sensed he would attack them for doing something to one of his men, though they were just helping him, so it was probably for the best not to know the details.

He had probably wandered around all of the allowable places in the hospital to both procrastinate and avoid Marco and Carl, which now, about one hour later, had sent a text message to tell him that they had left the hospital and would come back later. He thanked god for them leaving for a while and now he was back in the waiting room, and as he had expected, it wasn't finished yet.

He was tired. Both generally tired and tired of waiting, but that wasn't something to think about right now. There was nothing to do about it, and he wouldn't have done anything about it even if he could. It just wasn't the right time to lie down and take it easy, no matter what the people around him said.

Most of them had got a chance coming in to the ones they were waiting for at this point, anyway, but he himself hadn't even heard anything about how things were going in that room, or what his current medical condition was like. He was just supposed to wait nicely when he didn't like waiting, _at all_.

How hard could it be to take some time, giving some damn information around here?

He looked around the place. In the corner sat a young girl with her family, smiles were formed upon their lips and they expressed a happiness no one could miss. A doctor had recently come out to them and given them information about their related one. A short distance away sat a guy on the other hand, stiff as a statue, with a sad expression on his face. He was far from pleased with the things he had heard from the hospital staff.

Chills began to creep along the spine of the man who never usually felt them. This could go either way- he realized that now. It was like a couple of odds which stood at 50/50. Maybe it was harder than he thought for them to give people information.

But those were tragic; really difficult situations. It was not like this case .. it was not like _him_.

He had seen the fear in his golden orbs- yes, but it was ok to be scared. He had every right to be afraid; in fact, even Chris himself was frightened right now.

Fear was just part of this, it doesn't mean it's time for worse moments or that there would come a time in his presence when that information becomes a burden to tell.

He is going to survive, there is no doubt about it; why should there be?

He is a soldier; a fighter- a damn good one too- but he's not only that. He is showered by the love from his own captain who cannot handle situations people expect him to handle. But perhaps people are not expecting him to be able dealing with the feeling of being in love with his second in command, though. That's probably not what anyone would expect happening at all.

Behind him he heard the tempo beginning to increase, everyone's eyes turned towards a particular direction, and the people who sat in front of him looked past him; behind him, and there was some sort of panic that broke out in the area. He turned around half where he was sitting and could see how nurses ran back and forth, with their heads held down low.

He thought he heard noises from machines in one of the rooms; he didn't want to think about where it came from, he just knew that he did _not _want to wait any longer.

With somewhat shaking knees and a rapidly beating heart he stood up and saw that middle-aged nurse from earlier again coming from one of the rooms so he decided to quickly approach her while he heard people talking about the uproar behind him.

She looked heartbroken when she veered off and turned her back against Chris before turning off at a corner, so he had a little catching up to do on her, which he pulled off quickly; luckily enough. When he did it he laid a hand on her shoulder and turned her around; something he wouldn't have had to do since she actually did it well herself.

"How are things going at the surgery?"

He kept his voice even, almost cold, to show her that he needed an answer quickly, but the whole she looked as if she had just been asked a riddle, and the question could be considered stupid when she gave him that questioning look and it only got worse as she looked guilty behind that expression, and only god knows why she does that. But _she_ if anyone should know the answer to this.

"I.. I can't tell you that yet."

"But you told me you would inform me as soon as you knew something. You know, about how long he will have to stay here or-"

"Mister Redfield."

She looked down at the ground when she said it in a low voice but eye contact was soon up to date when he it was for Chris to say 'yes?' through the eyes, and to get some hint as to why he needed to be interrupted.

He still held her in a grip on her shoulders, so she gave a meaning glance towards that direction before she breathed out heavily as he loosened the grip while she opened and closed her mouth several times before he let go of her completely and after that, she decided to only show a gesture to the door where she had come from before.

It took no more than that for him to understand that she wanted him to go through the door, so he did it with slight hesitation, a doubt that disappeared as soon as he saw _him_ lying there, with his eyes closed, mouth slightly opened, a large bandage wrapped over his torso up to the collarbone, but lost in something that looked like a peaceful sleep.

It was such a relief to know that the surgery was done, and that he could just _be here_ now, in the present. They should have informed him, but it didn't do anything anymore as Chris slowly took a few steps to soon arrive at the side of the hospital bed where the younger man was lying.

Sure everything looked fine, didn't it? But still something wasn't right, and he couldn't quite put his finger to it..

"I thought you should see it for yourself. He is currently breathing through a respiratory and.. I'm sorry, Sir."

The nurse's voice followed him; it hacked him in the heel, and it got him to stay there; at the edge of the bed, with his eyes still fixed on the man who takes the breaths away from him. Her words succeeded making his motions freeze in the matter of a second.

"What are you saying?"

"This was the doctor's will, if he didn't have that right now he wouldn't be able to breathe."

"I know what a goddamn respiratory is, what I want to know is _why_ he's breathing through it!"

His world was spinning, it was intended that he would see a human being in front of him when he turned to her, but all he could see was blur that almost made his field of vision black all over.

But he ignored it, pretended like nothing was happening and kept on standing on both his legs as usual, choosing not to save the destruction that was soon to come because he had to find out more. But he didn't know how many seconds he could hold out.

"It is hard to explain how his body acted, we just couldn't do anything. I'm so sorry.."

Those last words she added when she saw the empty look in his eyes. She had planned to continue the sentence, with a purpose to tell him what she was sure that he certainly wanted to know, but she wasn't so sure anymore if this was the right time or not. She decided to do it in the end, though.

"The blood samples revealed that Piers carried the infection, that is probably the reason why his body reacted this way during the surgery.. It would have been curable, yes, but-"

"Why the hell are you telling me this?"

He shook his head, threw himself at the first place he could find which was a chair just a bit away from the hospital bed and buried his face in his hands. No one could see that he shared tears that way but maybe you knew that already, and he couldn't be less inattentive about it right now.

"I always think it's better to know about the past than not knowing."

She said it like it would be comforting, and then there was probably a little noise coming from those usually so silent tears of his. Everything broke a little more after hearing those words in that sentence of hers for it allowed him to think of things that he shouldn't sit here and think about. As a matter of fact, it started terrorize him so much that it makes him want to sink down to a level that is not even existing on earth.

What is the past for _him_ right now? Will he ever know about the other's feels?

And as some sort of calling he hears reactions from a direction he never expected to hear reactions from. He knows she's just as surprised as he is, and he knows it may be his head, his _hearing _playing a major prank on him, but he is actually hearing _him_ coughing so he is forced to travel on his head to show his bloodshot, excessive crying shot eyes, and when he has lift up his head she's already arrived at his bedside to check on him and he is _awake_. Well, half awake, we might say.

And if this isn't a dream a spark of hope is brought back to life within him.

"It has to be the virus that did this. I'm leaving you two for a while to inform the doctor, and then I'll be back later, alright?"

She said it almost the same second as she ran out the door. The reason that he is just brought back like this may of course be strange, like the virus as she said, but there is a cure, and if it is not time for it to break out too much, it shouldn't be any danger.

Chris didn't take long to pull the chair against the edge of the bed and sit down again to meet the lying man's gaze.

"Captain."

Piers almost whispered, it probably hurt to talk, but he still commanded a small smile for a second. His smiles never lasted longer than that, and they didn't have to either. It was one of those smile that melted his heart quickly; one of those smiles that left the older man wanting to ignore all of the formalities.

"Hey Piers, guess I shouldn't ask you how you're feeling, right?"

"Rather not."

"You'll be fine. Sure you'll get a scar after that surgery, but you will be fine."

Their eyes wandered on each other's eyes and it looked like both thought about what they would say although no one really seemed to have the power of doing so.

"It doesn't change the fact that I am infected."

"They would fix that too."

Piers shrugged lightly on one shoulder, his eyes closed once before they were opened again and it seemed like he was pretty happy with that answer anyway. At least he had no objections.

"Don't you do that to me again, Piers."

The younger brunette's hand rested freely on the side of him, so the captain seized the opportunity to approach it with his own hand. He put it up on Piers' hip with his own hand on top of it and stroked his outer palm in a circular motion.

The silence was lying in the air as of yet, he knew that it brought some kind of reaction from him, he buckled under his hand and he surely looked at him in an odd way, but his hand remained there at least.

"Do what?"

"Don't ever make me believe I'd lost you like that again."

He was just about to answer when Chris pushed his finger against his lower lip and leaned against him to get to feel those cushions for lips become one with his own lips. He didn't know what he was doing right now would be called, but to his surprise he actually replied back on the kiss, and that in just a few seconds.

They were savoring each other's lips, and between the tiny kisses, Chris took a hold of Piers' chin, leaned past his cheek before he shared a kiss on the neck and hesitated over something he didn't really hesitate over at all and went back for a quick kiss on the mouth and back to the ear to nib at the tip easily.

"I love you."

He felt how Piers stopped after hearing his captain tell him those words. Chris had something up in his throat, presumably his own heart, he knew it could mean risking so much, yet it was so important.´

"What?"

"You heard me."

He chose to speak quietly into his ear not to see his expressions yet, but he felt the man beneath him beginning to stand up half, so it would probably be changed soon.

"I.."

"Never let me fail you again."

"You have never failed me."

"I have, and that's why you're here, but we're gonna get through this, Piers. I promise."

Two pair of eyes that forms a collision between brown and hazel, emotions that have found its proper place, paths that have crossed the right ways.

"I love you too, Chris."

It all may have felt surreal but it was just hoping that it was happening for real.

Because it was perfect, maybe even _too_ perfect, and he wouldn't trade the way their fingers, their hands, intertwined for anything.

This was how it should be, and no terror in the world should destroy that.


End file.
